EU unemployment rate at 6.2% in August

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The EU's unemployment rate stood at 6.2% in August, with a 0.1 percentage point drop from July, the bloc's statistical office reported on Monday.

The figure also fell from 6.9% in the same month of 2018, Eurostat said in a press release.

It highlighted that the figure was the lowest rate recorded in the EU28 since the start of the EU monthly unemployment series in January 2000.

"The euro area (EA19) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 7.4% in August 2019, down from 7.5% in July 2019 and from 8.0% in August 2018," the statistical office said.

The eurozone/euro area or EA19 represents member states that use the single currency -- euro -- while the EU28 includes all member countries of the bloc.

It said 15.43 million men and women in the EU28, of whom 12.17 million in the euro area, were unemployed as of August.

The number of people unemployed fell by 111,000 on a monthly basis, and dropped by 1.19 million year-on-year in August, across the 28-member bloc.

Czechia and Germany posted the lowest unemployment rates with 2% and 3.1%, respectively, in August.

The highest rates were seen in Greece (17% in June 2019, the latest available data), and in Spain with 13.8%.

"Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in 24 member states, remained stable in Luxembourg while it increased in Denmark (from 4.9% to 5.0%), Lithuania (from 6.1% to 6.6%) and Sweden (from 6.3% to 7.1%)," the press release read.

Eurostat also said there were some 3.14 million unemployed young people -- under 25 -- in the EU28 in August, marking a 14.2% youth unemployment rate.

The highest youth unemployment figures were recorded in Greece, Spain and Italy, and the lowest in Czechia, Germany and the Netherlands.